Create Outpost
Create Outpost is one of the many Unit Abilities available in Master of Magic. This ability is unique to Settlers (of any Race). It indicates that these units can establish new Settlements, which can quickly grow into productive Towns. This makes Settlers absolutely essential for the expansion of one's empire (though conquest is another viable option for expansion, at least to some degree). Whenever a unit with Create Outpost is standing on top of a valid tile (see below) on the overland map, the orders menu displays a button labeled "Build". When this button is pressed, the unit is destroyed, and a new Settlement will appear on that tile. The Settlement will spend a few turns trying to grow to 1,000 citizens. Once this is accomplished, the Settlement turns into a Town, and can now produce new Normal Units and Town Buildings like any other town. There are 14 types of Settlers in the game - one for each Race. Each has the Create Outpost ability (and really only exists for this purpose). There is no way to add the Create Outpost ability to any other unit, nor is it possible to construct new Settlements in any other way. Description Every empire in Master of Magic has an innate desire to expand. By acquiring more territory, increasing population, and gaining access to fertile Terrain and valuable Terrain Specials, the empire increases its overall strength and production capacity, thus gaining a stronger advantage over its rivals. Although conquest is a viable method to securing new assets, it is often necessary to use Settlers in order to colonize areas where no Town existed previously. Also, propagation of specific Races can help an empire maintain some degree of homogeneity, reducing overall Unrest levels and focusing on particular types of production. Effect In order to use its Create Outpost ability, a unit must move to an overland tile that is valid for the construction of a new Settlement. Settlements can only be constructed on land tiles that do not contain Nodes, and must be placed at least 4 tiles from the nearest existing Settlement or Town. Once the unit is on top of a valid tile, the unit's orders menu will display a button labeled "Build". The "Build" button is greyed-out while the unit is not on top of a valid tile for a new Settlement. Note that this button also appears for units possessing the Construction ability, but serves a different purpose for such units. Once this button is pressed, the construction process takes place immediately. The unit is destroyed, and a new Settlement is placed in the tile it occupied. You may name this Settlement as you desire, or accept the name generated randomly by the game. The new Settlement will always be populated by the same Race to which the Settlers unit belongs. For example, a Barbarian Settlers unit will always create a Settlement populated by Barbarians. The new Settlement initially has only 300 people living in it - not enough to constitute a single "citizen". Thus, the Settlement does not produce anything, and cannot embark on any projects. Each turn, the game randomly determines the growth (or shrinkage) of the Settlement's population, based on a large number of factors (see the Settlement article for more details). If the Settlement ever reaches or passes a population of 1,000, it is instantly turned into a Town and can begin operating like any other town in the game. Units with Default Create Outpost The Create Outpost ability is entirely unique to the 14 Settlers units available in the game. Settlers (of 14 varieties corresponding to the 14 races) Each Settlers unit can construct a single new Settlement belonging to the same race as the one that produced the unit. Settlers are always immediately destroyed upon legally activating their Create Outpost ability. Acquiring Create Outpost Settlers are the only units in the game that possess the Create Outpost ability. It is not possible for any other unit to acquire this ability in any way, neither through spells nor through Magical Items. This is what makes Settlers so valuable despite a complete lack of combat abilities. Category:Abilities